Originally Posted By madmax
The mess/fallout continues ! Goodness knows what the other side of the channel thinks of us now !

Well that is easy to answer. All the political leaders in the rest of the EU want a decisive leader in the UK and they want the UK out now.

They really don't like the idea of a United Kingdom that wants the benefits but is not part of the EU. The half-in half-out situation that has existed up till now is barely acceptable and they are not inclined to support a quarter-in three-quarters-out arrangement. This will mean very difficult negotiations for the UK and no concessions if the UK wants to re-join in a few years time.

Why should they take such a hard line? Simple: they don't want any other countries to consider exiting the EU. Such a break up of the EU would lead to a disaster in economic relationships and trade for the smaller economies within the current EU structure and would not be all that good for the larger economies either.

The Euro is an intrinsic part of the Union and it is obligatory, in a very weak way, that member states join the Euro. Denmark and the United Kingdom are the two "opt-out" exceptions. In my opinion the adoption of the Euro should be a condition of joining and until a state is able to join the Euro Zone they should be limited to a trade agreement.

This is a bit of drift on the thread but relates to why nobody actually wants to be responsible for taking the UK out of the EU.

Without a doubt some reform of the EU is required but that is another topic.

Peter

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